Its another good write up Havard. I think it could be expanded a bit and I don't quite agree with this bit

" the adventure was written with Dave's original system in mind. This meant among other things that the adventure assumed bringing several units of soldiers along with the adventurers."

I don't think DA assumed anything. I also don't think Dave's players used hirelings very often on adventures. A great example is Rob and Gary's adventure in the City of the Gods. It's pretty clear that that place is teaming with defenders just like ToTF, and DA's major complaint about how Robilar and Mordenkainen handled themselves was that they weren't sneaky enough.

Thing is, I've run ToTF straight with small groups of mid level adventurers, and each time the party was able to sneak into the temple and get away clean afterward. The notion put out some years ago (and somehow still circulating) that ToTF was a CHAINMAIL scenerio is simply misguided. Arneson's ToTF is a setting, not a "module". If PC's go up to the temple and start knocking on the door it is there own fault if they get slaughtered. I think the dungeon is actually a great one for a typical party to explore - carefully.

_________________"The gamemaster may find that sometimes it is a good idea to just let the unexpected lead where it will." Dave Arneson - DNA DOA

Its another good write up Havard. I think it could be expanded a bit and I don't quite agree with this bit

" the adventure was written with Dave's original system in mind. This meant among other things that the adventure assumed bringing several units of soldiers along with the adventurers."

I don't think DA assumed anything. I also don't think Dave's players used hirelings very often on adventures. A great example is Rob and Gary's adventure in the City of the Gods. It's pretty clear that that place is teaming with defenders just like ToTF, and DA's major complaint about how Robilar and Mordenkainen handled themselves was that they weren't sneaky enough.

Thing is, I've run ToTF straight with small groups of mid level adventurers, and each time the party was able to sneak into the temple and get away clean afterward. The notion put out some years ago (and somehow still circulating) that ToTF was a CHAINMAIL scenerio is simply misguided. Arneson's ToTF is a setting, not a "module". If PC's go up to the temple and start knocking on the door it is there own fault if they get slaughtered. I think the dungeon is actually a great one for a typical party to explore - carefully.

Thanks Dan!

I think you make some excellent points here. I have been a bit busy these last few months, but I want to go back and revise this article taking some of your points into account. I like your comparison to the City of the Gods adventure.

Was it not common for the Blackmoor PCs to bring a bunch of hirelings/soldiers with them though?

Was it not common for the Blackmoor PCs to bring a bunch of hirelings/soldiers with them though?

-Havard

Offhand I can't think of a single anecdote of an adventure (as opposed to a wargame scenerio) by any of the original players or by Arneson where NPC hirelings were mentioned. Might have been, but I don't think it was common.

_________________"The gamemaster may find that sometimes it is a good idea to just let the unexpected lead where it will." Dave Arneson - DNA DOA

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